John 4:34-35 My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
This
verse of scripture is a statement from Jesus to His disciples after returning
to their master at a Samaritan village to bring food to eat. They attempted to
get Jesus to eat, but He told them He had food that they knew nothing about.
Jesus
was using a farming illustration that His disciples would have heard from the
early years of their lives. Jesus' followers came from an agricultural society
that produced a proverb concerning the timing of the harvest. "It's still
four months until harvest," Jesus tells them that fields are ripe for the
harvest; in this case, He used the harvest as a synonym for the mission of
bringing people to Jesus. The woman at the well spoke with Jesus and recognized
Him as the true promised Messiah. She had gone back to the village to tell
everyone that she had met the promised Messiah. Jesus was well aware of what
was getting ready to take place. He knew that the entire village was about to
come out to the well where Jesus was resting. The villagers needed to accept
Jesus as the promised Messiah. Since the Cross, we must accept the sacrifice of
Jesus on the Cross and place our faith in His precious blood, atoning for our
sin. On the other side of the Cross, the acceptance was for the promise of the
coming Messiah. The woman at the well informed Jesus that she knew the Messiah
would come and tell them all things; Jesus told her, "I am he" (John
4:25-26).
Jesus
led His disciples to "open their eyes" and be alert to what was
getting ready to take place. The mission field was getting prepared to be ripe
for the harvest when the entire town of Sychar (John 4:5) came out to meet the
promised Messiah. Jesus challenged his followers that day to open their eyes
and have a vision for the lost souls coming their way. It still takes vision to
win lost souls to Christ Jesus.
The
most crucial time for the harvest of lost souls is right now. As Christians, we
should not set our agenda for evangelizing. Our Commander-in-Chief has issued
our marching orders; our job is to follow His commands. Our Lord and Savior
Christ Jesus has given all of His children specific directions for evangelism
(Acts 1:8).
As
servants of Christ Jesus, we should foster an urgent sense of responsibility to
evangelize for the cause of Christ. There will be times that Christ puts an
opportunity in our path to witness to someone. Sadly, we often miss these
golden opportunities because, being human, we drift away toward worldly matters
instead of spiritual matters.
The ingathering of lost souls is harvest ready for those who will open their spiritual eyes and ears and hear God's calling, in and through Christ Jesus. Therefore, we should always be prepared for when the field is ripe for the harvest, when a lost soul opens to receive the gospel of Christ Jesus. There are people in our lives who are ready to hear the gospel. Therefore, we need to evaluate everything concerning the harvest. We need to be prepared when the field ripens, to when a soul is open to receive the gospel and accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.
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